SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A delegation from Coordination Framework led by Hadi al-Amiri will meet with Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf on Wednesday, according to Iraqi media.
The delegation’s meeting with Sadr is aimed at uniting the “Shia home” before the new Iraqi parliament convenes next week, Shafaq News cited a security source as saying.
“Another purpose is to form the largest parliamentary bloc and a new government,” the source added.
The Coordination Framework includes State of Law Alliance, al-Fateh Alliance, Ata Movement, National Forces Alliance, Haquq Movement and Fadhila party.
Last week, the group’s delegation held a meeting with Sadr in Najaf.
Following the meeting, Sadr reiterated the formation of a “national majority government, neither eastern nor western”.
Separately, Amiri said in a statement that the meeting was “positive”.
Fazil al-Fatlawi, leader in al-Fateh alliance led by Amiri, said on Sunday that Sadr wanted to form a majority government while the other Shia leaders preferred a consensus government.
“The only point of contention between al-Sadr and the coordination framework is that Sadr wants a majority government, but the Coordination Framework wants a consensus government,” he told Baghdad Today.
“This difference can be resolved and agreed on through continuous dialogue and negotiation between the two parties,” he added.
On Saturday, leader in the Coordination Framework Wail Rukabi said the group would form the largest parliamentary bloc if talks with Sadr failed.
“The Coordination Framework is the largest bloc with 90 seats and will form the government in the event that Sadr rejects a coalition with the group,” Baghdad Today quoted him as saying.
Iraqi parties have begun negotiations on the formation of a new government after Iraq’s federal court ratified the results of the October parliamentary election and rejected appeals lodged by al-Fateh alliance led by Amiri.
The alliance said the electronic voting system had failed to recognize the finger print identification of many votes.
All Iraqi and Kurdish parties announced their commitment to the ruling.
The Sadrist Movement, led by Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, won nearly a fifth of the seats – 73 out of the assembly’s total 329.
The Taqqadum Party, which draws support from minority Sunni Muslims, won 37 seats, according to the final results.
Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Alliance won 33 seats, the results showed. A distant second with 17 seats was the al-Fateh Alliance, the political arm of Hashid al-Shaabi.
Since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled minority Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraqi governments have been dominated by parties from the Shia majority, in coalitions that have included Kurdish parties.
